Origins
When ICL was formed in 1968 as a result of the merger of International Computers and Tabulators (ICT) with English Electric Leo Marconi, the company considered a number of options for its future product line. These included enhancements to either ICT's 1900 Series or the English Electric System 4, and a development based on J. K. Illiffe's Basic Language Machine. The option finally selected was the so called Synthetic Option: a new design starting with a clean sheet of paper.
As the name implies, the design was influenced from many sources. These included ICL's own earlier machines. The design of Burroughs mainframes was influential, although ICL rejected the concept of optimising the design for one high-level language. The MULTICS system provided other ideas, notably in the area of protection. However, the biggest single outside influence was probably the MU5 machine developed at Manchester University.
Read more about this topic: ICL 2900 Series
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)